February 18, 2014

Get to knowH&M's New Icons, Jourdan Dunn, Andreea Diaconu, Sui He and Nadja Bender.

Jourdan Dunn who was born in London in 1990, was scouted when she was 14. By 2008 she had become the first black model to walk the Prada catwalk in over a decade. That year Jourdan won the title ''Model of the Year'' at the British Fashion Awards, and she has since appeared on many international front covers including British and American Vogue. Read more about Jourdan here.

''My Icon is Beyoncé, not just because she's beautiful, but because she represents strong women in today's society''

Romanian model Andreea Diaconu was born in Bucharest in 1991, and is now based in New York. She started modeling in 2006, and was discovered by photographer David Sims in 2012. Andreea has since been featured on the cover French Vogue and appeared in campaigns for Dolce & Gabbana.
When she's not modelling, she really loves karate.

Sui He was born in 1989 in Wenzhou, a city six hours from Bejing, and in 2006 won a Chinese modeling contest. It was in 2011 that she broke onto the international catwalks, becoming the first Asian model to open a Ralph Lauren show. She's since become the first Asian global spokesperson for Shiseido, and was recently a guest judge on China's Next Topmodel.

''I think H&M is so stylish. I shop there all the time.''
Born in 1990, Nadja Bender is from Copenhagen and was discovered through Facebook in 2011. Initially she wanted to continue her studies, but soon gave modelling a try, and in Febuary 2012 she opened the show for both Alexander Wang and Rodarte. Nadja has appeared in campaigns for Gucci and Chanel among others, and would still like to finish her degree in nanotechnology.

For the second time H&M introduced its New Icons collection. This year the supermodels Sui He, Nadja Bender, Jourdan Dunn, Andreea Diaconu as this years New Icons. The models are clad in the must-have looks for this season;''street sharp silhouettes, slick tailoring and fresh nautical stripes.'' The collection consists of a navy jumpsuit with a low-cut V-neck, a fitted tuxedo jacket with dark print, cropped sweaters, black accessories with gold details and a double-breasted trenchcoat.

The collection is now available in-stores and online.
Take a look back at last years icons here.

February 16, 2014

In November the British fashion company Mulberry announced that they will be not be showcasing a collection at the London Fashion Week, instead a week ago, they announced that they have some exciting news to share at the LFW. The past few days Mulberry and Cara Delevingne were teasing fans with behind-the-scenes images. Everyone was expecting that they would announce a bag made by Cara and when two days ago she actually posted a photo of a tattoo that said ''Made in England'' alongside in blue leather with the caption ''Coming soon...'' on Instagram. Then yesterday a picture of the same tattoo was posted on Mulberry's instagram but this time you could see that the blue leather was from a bag.

And today was the big reveal at 1:30 pm (London time) at Claridge's in London. Not only has designed one bag for Mulberry, but a whole collection consists of 12 bags in the mini, large and medium style.

Cara's tattoos were involved to make the collection even more personal. There is one bag inspired by her lion finger tattoo that has gold lion rivets and inside every bag there is a lion rivet and a heart shaped patch which is based on her pinkie heart tattoo, because she wants each bag to be like opening a letter. Cara said,''I wanted there to be hidden gems inside, based on things that are personal to me, which my tattoos definitely are.''

February 9, 2014

Social-media has become an important medium for brands and models. Brands use social-media networks such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to engage their customers. Marc Jacobs brought this to a new level by opening a pop-up shop during Fashion Week, which is very common. However, at the Daisy Marc Jacobs Tweet Shop you can pay with a Tweet or an Instagram or Facebookpost, which costs nothing for costumers but however it's a marketing success for Marc Jacobs!

And now social-media has become also a platform for models to take you behind-the-scenes and let you take a look at a model's life. It seems that your ''online social status'' could book you jobs, ''people look to book models for jobs that have a lot of followers on their social media for business-sales'' Jamie Bochert said in a video of W Magazine's exclusive series about models and social media. Karlie Kloss says that sometimes she feels obligated to update consistently, ''it's almost like homework''. I'm actually glad that models take the opportunity to use social-media, it gives them a face and a platform. They take you behind-the-scenes to see places you might never witness yourself.

W Mag also did a spread called "The Perfect Ten" with ten of these supermodels and social-media stars. Doutzen Kroes, Adriana Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Candice Swanepoel, Edita Vilkeviciute, Jourdan Dunn, Lais Ribeiro, Karlie Kloss and Isabeli Fontana were all shot by Mario Sorrenti and styled by Mr. Edward Enninful himself! And it is in the W Magazine March 2014 ''Social Media Issue''.

W Magazine has also listed a trivia about the models on their website. The basics/vital (age, height, measurements), Social-media stats and even the numbers the models walked The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show are listed. Click here for the list. They also made a series of short-films with the models about social media, which you can watch below.

So how do you feel about social media being a big part of the fashion industry?

February 5, 2014

He's a model, an actor, a fashionblogger and he's Italian! He has a great sense of style, amazing hair and he is the epitome of cool. I'm talking about my biggest mancrush - and no it's not ever handsome David Beckham, although both their hairstyles are always on point - I'm talking about the one and only, Mariano Di Vaio!

Mariano is one of the few models who also shares his life in a blog and what a blog it is!

Mariano was discovered while walking on the streets of London in 2007 by a modeling agency and Abercombie and Fitch. Now he's signed at Models1 and MIKAs Stockholm. He wasn't that successful at first but he has definitely made a household name in the past years. In March 2012 he started his own blog, MDV Style and has since become one of he most influential fashion bloggers worldwide! And it is also the first Italian men's style blog.

I've contacted Mariano for an interview, he tells us about how his modeling-career and his fashionblog and also about his favorite things.

Tell us how your career came to a start, where and how you were discovered.

Mariano: ''Everything started in London, while when I was walking I got recruited first from a Model Agency and them from Abercrombie, and since then I've been working so much as a model, and then after one year spent in NY I had the idea to open my own fashion blog, which is now big part of my daily job.''

Where are you based at the moment?

M: ''Milan''

What has been your proudest moment so far?

M:''The fact that after almost 2 years in this business I own a company called Mdv&Co and I'm partner in various fashion brands and that I have an amazing team behind me makes me happy everyday, and I'm so thankful to god for what I've the chance to do. ''Highs and low of modeling?

M:''As everyone knows it's a beautiful job to be a model, always traveling and taking nice pictures, but it's also about many other things, like being away from your family for so long, and not seeing your friends, and not having the time to ride your bike in a sunny day, and so many crazy people, but you know, as every job there is highs and Low.''

I love your fashionblog! How did you first get into blogging?

M:''As I said before it was a thing I realized I wanted to do after my experience in New York City, where I saw blogs here a real inspiration for people, but not just for fashion, also about cooking and a choosing the best place to have fun or just dinner. So when I came back I decided to open my personal blog.''

You recently collaborated with Italian brand, Chic Phobia, tell us more about that.

M:''It was a nice collaboration with this young Italian brand, I'm so happy about the way things went, and that people liked so much the stuff I designed.

I hope to make more collar like this in a near feature.''

Are there more projects coming in the future?

M:''A lot, but I can't talk about most of them:)''Besides modelling and blogging are there any other things you want to do?

M:''I have lot of passions, but right now I'm concentrating on this because It's not just work but also a big passion.''

If you could choose to meet anyone, death or alive, who would that be and why?

M:''Definitely and 100% sure BOB MARLEY, I think he was an awesome person with such a nice soul and ideas, and It would be great to drink a beer and chat with him for just 10 min.''What designer would you love to work with?

M:''Scotch&Soda is an amazing brand, one of my favorite and I would love to work with them and also NOHOW a new upcoming brand of some young guys, that would also be a nice collaboration. I love young and new brands with strong personality.''

If you could choose, which model would you like to work with?

M:''Cara Delevingne, she seems to be a nice and cool person to hang out with.''

3 Fashion items you can't live without?

M:''Sunglasses, Rings, and my phone which is part of my outfit! :D''Samiya Cusman

A few of Mariano's favorite things:

Favourite city?

Amsterdam

Favourite dish?

Spaghetti

Favourite model?

Cara Delevigne

Favourite movie?

Shutter Island

Favourite brand?

NoHow

Favourite app?

Instagram

I want to thank Mariano for answering these questions! Follow him on www.twitter.com/marianodivaio ,instagram.com/marianodivaio and take a look at his blog, MdvStyle.com!